Los Angeles schools chief Austin Beutner is working on a plan to radically reshape the nation’s second-largest district by shrinking the central bureaucracy and moving decisionmaking closer to campuses.
Under a proposal being developed confidentially, Beutner would divide the system into 32 “networks.” He is expected to make his plan public next month. Officials say they have collected input from about 1,500 parents, teachers, administrators, and community members in a series of meetings since August.
Some specifics of the plan probably will change, but what appears to have emerged are: The networks would be based mainly on geography; each network would include elementary, middle, and high schools, with cohesive academic programs for students as they progress through the system; each network would report to one of several regional headquarters; staffing and authority at the central office would be sharply reduced; and schools and their networks would get more control in key areas such as hiring and budgets.
